How to Install 64-bit BIOS on Sunchip CX-W8

Sunchip CX-W8 is an Intel Atom Z3735F TV box running Windows, but I’ve been informed that originally Sunchip designed it for WeTek in order to manufacture a Linux based mini PC. Unfortunately, they finally gave up once they discovered Intel had no intention to work on HDMI audio support in Linux for their Atom Z3700 series processor despite it working on Android… Intel Compute Stick will apparently use a separate DSP to handle that part (TBC).

Nevertheless, when WeTek saw I had Wintel W8, they decided to share the 64-bit “BIOS” they had worked on for the Linux port. By the way, Wintel W8 and Sunchip CX-W8 allegedly come from two different factories / design houses, so although they look alike, the hardware might be different, and the UEFI firmware / BIOS, I’m about to share may or may not be compatible with Wintel W8, so you may brick it if it is not already bricked…

If you want to install a new version of the BIOS, or possibly unbrick your device (TBC), you can download and extract CX-W8_64-bit_UEFI.tar.7z. You should get three files:

H2OFFT-S.efi – H2O UEFI Flash Firmware Tool

M64.W8ANNA01.ROM – 64-bit BIOS

STARTUP.nsh – startup script

Copy these three files to the root directory of a USB flash drive formatted with FAT32, and insert the drive into one of the USB ports of CX-W8 mini PC. Power on the device, and press the “Esc” key on the keyboard repeatedly (not press and hold) until you see the menu below.Now select Boot Manager with the keyboard’s arrow keys and Enter, and select Internal EFI shell.

As you press Enter, the BIOS installation should start.

One installation is completed, the PC will reboot, and you can install the 64-bit operating system of your choice. I’m also trying to get the 32-bit BIOS for people who want to unbrick their device to re-install Windows.

I have not tried these instructions myself, but I know at least two persons who bricked their CX-W8 or W8 mini PC, so hopefully we’ll get some feedback soon.

I will wait for Wetek to make their quad core and for sure will buy it, this guys know what they are doing. For me was enough to see how good their support is and how positive critics people giving to them. I hope they will soon publish Quad core device.

Just copy the files on a pen fat32 and boot from it.
You have to use it only if you have already installed a 64bit bios and you want to go back to a bios 32 bit.

This worked for me.

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3 years ago

Guest

armin

Thanks dude for sharing
I’ll try it tonight and get back to you

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3 years ago

Guest

armin

Thanks again abbino70 for the file
Mine it’s back alive

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3 years ago

Guest

sekoto

I’m having problems with my WINTEL W8, because it shutdowns if it gets hot only making it work a little more, like using KODI. The main problem is that the BIOS of this MINIPC has a lot less options than the WINTEL CX-W8 and cannot control the shutdown temperature. When i try to ask for a BIOS update to the seller he says “Sorry, it can’t update by personally”.
This BIOS update would work with my WINTEL W8? Or it will make it brick?

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3 years ago

Guest

abbino70

was somebody able to install windows 8.1 in any version with this 64 bit bios ? it always crash the installation after the boot.
With linux ubuntu 14.04 it was ok (the only problem is the audio), even the wireless is working after the Linuxium patch that unfortunally does’nt fix the Audio problem on CX-w8.
After plenty attempts i had to reflash the original 32 bit bios

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3 years ago

Guest

Michael

Probably the only one here that wants to install an older O/S… Windows 8 is just to bloated for want I want to do with this device.

Anyone successfully installed Windows XP on this? Or Windows 7

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3 years ago

Guest

chris6

Same problem as sekoto. After some hours, it shutdown, and I checked the processor activity was always under 60%, any solution?

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3 years ago

Guest

sekoto

The main problem is the design of this MiniPC. This Intel procesor needs fan refrigeration, because it doesn’t have good ventilation, and when it gets hot that increases until near 100º Celsius then it shutdowns automatically.
I think we need a new design DIY to get good refrigeration to the main core of this MiniPC.
Also we need some active solutions in the BIOS to prevent use of this CPU doing overclocking, more underclocking to have less temperature.

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3 years ago

Guest

chris6

It’s not as hot, for me, Iv’e installed Core Temp, it indicates 30°C at 50% processor usage. The first thing I did it was to modify the “energy management” in Windows to never shutdown. But no success. And since I’ve installed DontSleep, It didn’t reboot for 3 days. Maybe a problem with Windows?

Another point, as I cannot activate the license provided, can I put a Windows 8.1 Pro license? In order to have Remote Access activated? I use VNC now but not very happy with…

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3 years ago

Guest

Fred

Hi,

So can anyone confirm that openelec is working with this bios? CNC can you check?

Is there any way to flash the bios from windows?
I accidentally disabled the USB controller and so I can’t use the keyboard to access the bios and reset everything, so I wanted to re-flash the BIOS in order to reset to the default settings.

Do not flash this, it will allow you to install 64bit OS systems, but if you want to use ubuntu, there is no chance to get sound to work. I tried it and tested every version of linuxiums isos. Where 32bit bootloader worked (regarding hdmi audio and wifi) with the 64bit loader sound is not working.

can someone help me please i updated the BIOS with the 64 UEFI zip files it gave me an error so i downloaded the flashzip files, now every time i turn my WINTEL box its always diagnosing errors like “ACPSI_BOS_ERROR” AND KERNAL errors am able to log in but then it goes back to the blue screen telling me about the error can someone please help me. thanks

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3 years ago

Guest

Stan

hi, my miniPC has died, and cant even get to the BIOS.... The miniPC is with main board CX-W8 rev.1.0 Ill have to write the BIOS with a programmer, but i don`t have the needed file. The mini PC is dual boot system with win8.1 & Adroid if that matters. Can someone provide the bios fail that has to be written, so i can unbrick my miniPC?
thank you in advance!

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3 years ago

Guest

eugene28

Can somebody confirm hdmi audio issue has been fixed in linux?

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3 years ago

Guest

Alex

Thx Georgy, you saved me the trouble of testing it 🙂 I will stick with Win10 x32 since you confirmed Win10 x64 didn’t work. – cheers

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3 years ago

Guest

GunterO

I tried the installation of Win10 x64 before I saw Georgy’s comment.
Indeed, “ACPI_BIOS_ERROR”…
Reverted back to 32-Bit BIOS (thanks abbino70!) and installed W10 x32 without any problem.
Too bad the audio is not working under Linux, because I wanted to use this box as an OpenELEC box :-/

Sorry about harassment, but I do not know where to seek help. I have a big problem with my new wintel cx-W8. I need to reset BIOS to default, because I accidentally disabled USB ports in BIOS settings. Now my keyboard and mouse does not work. Please can you give me some instruction for resetting the BIOS? Can you help me with this problem?

A cheap programmer like the EZP_XPro (AliExpress) is able to reprogram it.

But if you’re still able to boot windows, and have remote desktop enabled, you can create some startup script to reflash the bios before Windows starts. This lucky trick saved me once 🙂

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3 years ago

Guest

Martin

@GunterO
Thanks for the informations. I tried to disconect the battery, but it did not help.I have a remote desktop enabled. So, can you tell me which BIOS can I flash to the device?Can you give me the link, please?
Thanks.

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3 years ago

Guest

GunterO

I haven’t done this on this particular computer, but I’ll try to help you.

Pointers are 2x larger which leads to more cache misses, but on the other hand there are more registers…
Maybe the right balance is the x32 ABi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X32_ABI ) that uses the 64-bit mode of the CPU while still using 32 bits pointers for userland apps (but it seems there was little activity on x32 recently…)

I would like to install OpenELEC only in Wintel CX-W8. How can I do that ?

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3 years ago

Guest

GunterO

@Thanhluutat
First you need to flash the 64-bit BIOS, then you need to put the OpenElec installer on a UEFI bootable stick (Rufus) and run the installer.
I have done this and OpenElec works, but no audio (Intel Atom Z3735F is not supported). You could use a cheap USB->Audio converter, but this won’t help if you want the audio on the HDMI …

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3 years ago

Guest

GunterO

In case somebody wants to have this mini PC auto boot / auto power on when the power is applied, you can make a small change to the hardware to make this happen. Just a 10µF/16V capacitor over the power switch (lower left corner of the PCB), that’s all.
I find this useful for my KODI setup.
See here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1leT68s831p961GGvlfLVNyWCz7vC8CUZ_w/view?usp=sharing
GND is the upper, + is the lower.

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3 years ago

Guest

frenchieman

Anybody can provide files to install win10 32bits please ?

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3 years ago

Guest

frenchieman

And what are your tools or advices to clone those babies ? I wanted to make an installation clean, install some softwares and clone everything after, just not to have to re-install everything for the customers, i have 6 mini pc like that and wanted to clone them, i think EMMC is not recognizable by Acronis/Easeus ? Please anybody help

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3 years ago

Guest

Anthony

Hello,
I need some help with my SHOW-TOP Wintel W8. It looks almost the exact same as the Sunchip but I do not have the screen as shown above when pressing esc, instead I just get the BIOS. It is 64-Bit but when I press launch EFI shell it says ‘Not Found!’. Are there any hardware differences with these two devices or are they pretty much the same? I bought my unit off of amazon and my brother managed to erase the boot keys. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

and question is How to Unbrick it if:
1. HDMI not give any Video on My TV screen…
2. USB give Power (Mouse , pendrive, portable HDD have power) but simple normal Cable keyboard not working (no power) but normally working Tested on PC…
3. Don’t know what version of BIOS is or was installed before…
4. LED ON BOX:
a. Led Light in Red for while after plug a power Adapter
b. Blue led Colour is after pressing ON Button (good sign)
5. Stupid but tried disconnect BIOS battery for reset CMOS.. :/ No result…
6. never saw someone who did that but I was Try connect to pc via Micro USB Slot.. :S 😀

Tried few options “how to unbrick CX-W8” but what can I do w/o keyboard…
Don’t have any device to re-programme BIOS chip …
Don’t Have any USB LCD
Any solution.. Any1 had same problem?
Any very good spoil “how to do Step by Step” with ScreenShots
HELP ME 😉 and Others with same or similar problem.. and U will be a hero in My and Otehrs eyes 😀
Regards, Slaw.

Hmm.. So nobody knows if there is any difference between the W8 Wintel discussed on this thread, and the SHOW-TOP Wintel W8? When I press the ESC key immediately after booting I do not get this graphical screen as shown above, I simply get the Bios. When the option “Launch Internal EFI Shell” is clicked there is no progress.. Just a “NOT FOUND!” error. Please help as I must know if this is fixable or not as this is urgent, for it is my brothers Wintel and I need to know if I should attempt to fix or replace?. More details can be provided but I would appreciate someone’s help please! Thank you very much.